Asked by: Andrew Stephenson (Conservative - Pendle)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prisons do not accommodate workshops.
Answered by Andrew Selous - Second Church Estates Commissioner
We want to see more prisoners working productively for longer numbers of hours. We also want to attract more employers who offer both work in prison but also guaranteed interviews and employment opportunities on release. That is why we want to reform the prison estate, building nine new prisons with better facilities for training and rehabilitation.
All prisons provide opportunities for offenders to work and learn new skills which can help them find a job on release and support their rehabilitation. We work continuously with employers nationally and locally to create new opportunities in line with our code of practice.
NOMS uses a specific definition of 'workshop' which is only used for commercial and industrial scale work and specific work activities. [1] Currently, there are 10 prisons which are not planning to offer this type of work this year [2], however other learning, vocational training and work opportunities will still be available in these establishments.
Work in prisons continues to grow steadily, up from 10.6 million working hours in 10/11 to 14.9 million working hours in the year 14/15.
[1] Including Enterprise/Contract Services, Engineering, Aluminium, Laundry, Newgate Furniture, Concrete, Plastics, Textiles, Woodwork, Food Packing, Commercial Land Based Activities, Braille, Charity, Printing, Data Entry, Signs, Desk Top Publishing, Retail, External Recycling and other workshops.
[2] Excludes four establishments the Youth Justice Board (YJB) commission from the National Offender Management Service (NOMS)
Asked by: Andrew Stephenson (Conservative - Pendle)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many workshop placements were delivered in prisons for (a) women and (b) men in each of the last three years.
Answered by Andrew Selous - Second Church Estates Commissioner
NOMS uses a specific definition of 'workshop' which is only used for commercial and industrial scale work and specific work activities.[1] These figures do not include the substantial number of prisoners in otherlearning, vocational training or work opportunities within prison on tasks such as cooking, serving meals, maintenance and cleaning which can help them find a job on release and support their rehabilitation. The figures also exclude work placements undertaken by offenders on release from prison on temporary licence.
The average number of prisoners reported as undertaking specific work activities1 at any one time across male and female public sector prisons in England and Wales in each of the last three years is set out in Table 1 below. Equivalent figures for contracted-out prisons are only available for 2014/15 and are shown in Table 2.
Table 1
Year[2] | Average Number of Prisoners Working[3] in Public Sector Prisons | |
Female Prisons | Male Prisons | |
2012/13 | 224 | 8,054 |
2013/14 | 243 | 8,153 |
2014/15 | 241 | 8,453 |
Table 2
Year | Average Number of Prisoners Working3 [4] in Contracted-out Prisons | |
Female Prisons | Male Prisons | |
2014/15 | 239 | 2,461 |
Work in prisons continues to grow steadily, up from 10.6 million working hours in 10/11 to 14.9 million working hours in the year 14/15. Our key focus remains on ensuring that we grow work – particularly from other Government Departments. That is why we want to reform the prison estate, building nine new prisons with better facilities for training and rehabilitation.
[1] Including Enterprise/Contract Services, Engineering, Aluminium, Laundry, Newgate Furniture, Concrete, Plastics, Textiles, Woodwork, Food Packing, Commercial Land Based Activities, Braille, Charity, Printing, Data Entry, Signs, Desk Top Publishing, Retail, External Recycling and other workshops.
[2] For 2012/2013 and 2013/2014 the figures include estimated adjustments to take account of changes introduced following a review in 2014 to re-categorise some types of activities, such as non-commercial Land Based Activities. For the above tables further estimates have been made of the relative proportion of commercial to non-commercial Land Based Activities in female prisons where this is unknown.
[3] Data relating to public sector prisons is sourced from administrative IT monitoring systems used by them to record the number of prisoners in each of their workshops. Although care is taken when processing and analysing the data, the level of detail collected is subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large-scale recording system. The number of prisoners working refers to the average number of prisoners working in the defined activities across the prison estate at a particular time as is not a cumulative figure.
[4] Contracted-out prisons have no contractual obligation to provide NOMS with the number of prisoners working. They have provided this information for 2014/15, but no information on the number of prisoners working is available for previous years.
Asked by: Andrew Stephenson (Conservative - Pendle)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the quality of educational facilities in HM Prison Holloway; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Andrew Selous - Second Church Estates Commissioner
At HMP Holloway there are currently approximately 120 places in a morning session and the same in an afternoon session for women to attend education courses. Women may attend in one or two sessions each day depending on the type of course they are on. In addition there are approximately 40 places available to attend Physical Education provision and approximately 60 places in vocational training areas.
The Secretary of State for Justice announced on 8th September a review of the quality of education in prisons, chaired by Dame Sally Coates. The review will examine the scope, quality and effectiveness of current provision. It will consider the scope and range of the current curricula and identify the most effective teaching and delivery models. Stakeholders are being consulted and a Call for Evidence has been issued. The review is expected to report in the spring of 2016. A copy of the terms of reference are lodged in the library of the House and at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/review-of-prison-education-terms-of-reference
Asked by: Andrew Stephenson (Conservative - Pendle)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how he plans to assess whether prisoners identified as having poor English and mathematics skills make progress prior to their release.
Answered by Andrew Selous - Second Church Estates Commissioner
The Secretary of State for Justice announced on 8th September a review of the quality of education in prisons, chaired by Dame Sally Coates. The review will examine the scope, quality and effectiveness of current provision. It will consider the scope and range of the current curricula and identify the most effective teaching and delivery models. Stakeholders are being consulted and a Call for Evidence has been issued. The review is expected to report in due course. A copy of the terms of reference are lodged in the library of the House and at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/review-of-prison-education-terms-of-reference
Asked by: Andrew Stephenson (Conservative - Pendle)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the reoffending rate is of ex-offenders who were granted release on temporary licence to undertake (a) voluntary work, (b) paid work or (c) an educational course.
Answered by Andrew Selous - Second Church Estates Commissioner
The Government fully supports the use of release on temporary licence (ROTL) in appropriate cases to allow prisoners to take work, training and educational opportunities that cannot be provided in prison, as well as for maintaining ties with their families. ROTL allows suitable, risk assessed offenders to start to tackle key criminogenic needs before they are released. It would incur disproportionate cost to establish the re-offending rate for offenders who, whilst in custody, had received ROTL for each of the three specified purposes.
Asked by: Andrew Stephenson (Conservative - Pendle)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what revenue accrued through deductions and levies on the earnings of prisoners in each year since 2011.
Answered by Andrew Selous - Second Church Estates Commissioner
The information requested can be found in the NOMS Annual report 2014/15: Management Information Addendum (p. 51, Table 19) and is available at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/prison-and-probation-performance-statistics-2014-to-2015
Asked by: Andrew Stephenson (Conservative - Pendle)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what proportion of space in prisons is used for educational purposes.
Answered by Andrew Selous - Second Church Estates Commissioner
Education is embedded in a wide range of regime activities which occur within a prison including classrooms, libraries and industries. No data is held centrally on the proportion of space at each prison (and this would incur disproportionate cost to calculate).
The Secretary of State for Justice announced on 8th September a review of the quality of education in prisons, chaired by Dame Sally Coates. The review will examine the scope, quality and effectiveness of current provision. It will consider the scope and range of the current curricula and identify the most effective teaching and delivery models. Stakeholders are being consulted and a Call for Evidence has been issued. A copy of the terms of reference are lodged in the library of the House and at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/review-of-prison-education-terms-of-reference
Asked by: Andrew Stephenson (Conservative - Pendle)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent representations he has received on expansion and improvement of educational facilities in prisons; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Andrew Selous - Second Church Estates Commissioner
Education is embedded in a wide range of regime activities which occur within a prison including classrooms, libraries and industries. No data is held centrally on the proportion of space at each prison (and this would incur disproportionate cost to calculate).
The Secretary of State for Justice announced on 8th September a review of the quality of education in prisons, chaired by Dame Sally Coates. The review will examine the scope, quality and effectiveness of current provision. It will consider the scope and range of the current curricula and identify the most effective teaching and delivery models. Stakeholders are being consulted and a Call for Evidence has been issued. A copy of the terms of reference are lodged in the library of the House and at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/review-of-prison-education-terms-of-reference
Asked by: Andrew Stephenson (Conservative - Pendle)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to broaden the range of educational subjects taught in prisons.
Answered by Andrew Selous - Second Church Estates Commissioner
Education is embedded in a wide range of regime activities which occur within a prison including classrooms, libraries and industries. No data is held centrally on the proportion of space at each prison (and this would incur disproportionate cost to calculate).
The Secretary of State for Justice announced on 8th September a review of the quality of education in prisons, chaired by Dame Sally Coates. The review will examine the scope, quality and effectiveness of current provision. It will consider the scope and range of the current curricula and identify the most effective teaching and delivery models. Stakeholders are being consulted and a Call for Evidence has been issued. A copy of the terms of reference are lodged in the library of the House and at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/review-of-prison-education-terms-of-reference
Asked by: Andrew Stephenson (Conservative - Pendle)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 14 September 2015 to Question 8612, on female offenders, if he will publish the updated membership and terms of reference of the Advisory Board on Female Offenders.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
The Terms of Reference for the Advisory Board on Female Offenders and its updated membership are set out below.
Board members have considerable understanding of and expertise in addressing factors underlying women’s offending, including domestic abuse, and will take full account of these as the Board takes forward its programme of work.